Despite the adaptation of the humor styles questionnaire for older children a measure suitable for children below the age of eleven was needed. The current research involved three separate studies leading to the creation of the humor styles questionnaire for younger children (HSQ-Y), suitable for those aged 8-11 years. Study one involved the development of a measure to assess aggressive and affiliative humor. Subsequently, study two involved the adaptation of the measure to include all four humor styles, which was administered to children alongside a measure of friendship quality. To provide further validation for the HSQ-Y as a measure, study three involved the administration of the HSQ-Y twice over a three week period and peer reports of the four humor styles. Several measures of psychosocial adjustment were also included. The HSQ-Y was found to be a reliable and valid measure of the four humor styles in children aged 8-11 years. Associations between the humor styles and psychosocial adjustment variables were also found, supporting the discriminant validity of the measure.Keywords: children, humor, humor styles, psychosocial adjustment. 1 IntroductionResearch which explores the social and emotional functions of humor has increased in recent years. Work exploring these functions in children however, is noticeably lacking (Martin, 2007). According to McGhee's (1974) four stage model of humor development, children reach the ultimate stage of development at around the age of seven years; this may therefore be a key age to begin to investigate the important role humor has to play.As highlighted by Martin (2007), many previously available approaches to measuring humor focused only on the assumption that humor leads to beneficial outcomes. In terms of the ability to measure both positive and negative uses of humor, Martin et al. (2003) developed the humor styles questionnaire for adults (HSQ) proposing four distinguishable, but overlapping, humor styles. The first style of humor, affiliative, was categorised as having the ability to amuse others, tell jokes or say funny things, an example item being, "I don't have to work very hard at making other people laugh -I seem to be a naturally humorous person". Secondly, aggressive humor has been described as using humor without consideration of the impact on others, including the use of sarcasm or teasing -"When telling jokes or saying funny things, I am usually not very concerned about how other people are taking it". Self-enhancing humor was described as a style used by individuals who are able to maintain a humorous outlook on life, particularly when faced with difficult situations. An example item from the humor styles questionnaire is, "It is in my experience that thinking about some amusing aspect of the situation is often a very effective way of coping with problems". Lastly, self-defeating humor involves an individual's attempts at making others laugh at their own expensive, often by putting themselves down, for example demonstrated by the item, "I wil...

It has been proposed that four main styles of humor exist, two which are thought to be adaptive (affiliative, self-enhancing) and two which are thought to be maladaptive (aggressive, self-defeating). Whilst the existence of these four humor styles has been supported in older children, it is suggested that for younger children, self-enhancing and self-defeating humor may develop at a later point. To investigate this further, the current research involved five semi-structured paired interviews with children aged eight to eleven years to explore the use and understanding of self-enhancing and self-defeating humor in this age group. Findings indicated that use of both self-enhancing and self-defeating humor were apparent in some children, but not all. It therefore seems appropriate that attempts to investigate humor in this age group should aim to include all four styles of humor. The current research also demonstrated the value of paired interviews when carrying out this sort of research with children.

Whilst a multitude of studies have examined links between different styles of humour and aspects of adjustment, longitudinal research is noticeably lacking. Following a study which identified bidirectional associations between humour styles and psychosocial adjustment in older children, the current research aimed to investigate these associations in younger children. In total, 413 children aged 8-11 years completed the humour styles questionnaire for younger children (HSQ-Y) alongside measures of psychosocial adjustment in both the autumn and the summer over the course of a school year. Findings across the school year suggested that children's adjustment may impact significantly on their use of different styles of humour. Further longitudinal research over a longer time period would now be beneficial to further increase our understanding of the associations between humour styles and adjustment throughout development. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Research has identified associations between children's humour styles and psychosocial adjustment. Research with older children has also identified longitudinal associations. What does this study add? This is the first study to identify longitudinal associations between humour styles and adjustment in younger children. This allows for stronger statements to be made about causal relationships.

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2013) 'I'm being called names and I'm being hit'. Challenges of longitudinal research on bullying amongst 11-13-year-olds,